Trust
by CampCampAddict
Summary: A pretty average day of camp is interrupted as a new camper arrives. Max finds her extremely suspicious and tries to find out more.
1. Chapter 1 - New Girl

Chapter 1 ~ New Girl

It was just another day at Camp Campbell. The birds were chirping, the flowers were blooming, and the campers were having to deal with David's pestering antics to get them to enjoy themselves. And as always, they were not amused.

"Okay everybody, I know we had a rough start this morning, quite literally. And I'm happy to inform you that Preston is doing better, since falling down that rocky slope on our nature hike." The camp counselor pronounced with his usual happy tone. Nerf had a smirk on his face, which never meant good things for the bully. "We all know Nerf pushed him." Max sneered. The other boy glared at him. The ten year old seemed unphased at the reponse. The other campers had seen him do it as well, they were just too afraid to call out Nerf's rude behavior.

"Now Max, we don't wanna point fingers at anybody. I'm sure if he did it was an accident." The optimist was oblivious to most of the harassment that went on in the camp. This irritated practically everyone, but they couldn't do much about it. The raven haired boy rolled his eyes.

David kept a smile on his face, even though it was clear the campers were bored out of their minds. "Today we are getting a new camper, so I want you all to be welcoming." Nikki immediately perked up. "Ooooh! When are they gonna be here?" Gwen walked to the activities field where the campers had been seated. "Soon." She butted in, seeming to have eavesdropped. The green eyed counselor continued. "Her name is Ebony, and I hope you all ca-" He screamed mid-phrase. The quartermaster drove through the clearing hitting David. Gwen facepalmed. At this point, it seemed like the groundskeeper was trying to kill her partner. She never knew what was up with that guy.

The doors of the bus swang open. "New girl's here." The driver grumbled. Out of what seemed like an eternity, someone finally stepped into view. A small girl with braided purple hair as strikingly bright as her smile. Max noticed an uncanny similarity the girl had to Nikki. He could already tell something was up with her. "Oh wow." He muttered. It was gonna be one of those days.


	2. Chapter 2 - Introductions

Chapter 2 ~ Introductions

Ebony placed her bag on the bed. She would be having her own tent, which didn't bother her as she was an only child and never shared a room. After getting unpacked she exited the tent, nearly jumping seeing almost all the campers crowded around her. "Hello." She said shyly. It wasn't that Ebony was introverted, she was just startled at the attention. All the campers, excluding Max, Nerf, and Preston, shouted, inviting her to talk about their interests.

Gwen plowed through the horde, pushing kids aside. "Shit, give her space, would you." She looked at the girl, understanding her discomfort. "It's lunch time anyways. Everyone to the mess hall. You can talk to Ebony when she comes." The campers groaned at the inconvenience but did as the counselor said.

"Thanks Gwen." The violet headed girl said. "It's nothing. Just try to stay out of trouble, this camp is full of it." Gwen was undoubtedly tired of dealing with the camper's crap.

Ebony took note of that.

"Will do." She replied. David's co-counselor walked off. Ebony decided to head to the mess hall, getting a grasp on how chaotic this camp was.

She opened the door, silently slipping in the cafeteria. She grabbed a tray off the counter, glancing at the burnt chicken nuggets with a nasty odor, she decided she would just eat one of the protein bars she stashed away in her bag. Ebony wasn't sure where to sit, but spotted a hyper teal haired girl smiling at her. She settled on sitting next to her and her two friends.

"Hi, I'm Nikki!" The girl exclaimed. Ebony smiled back at the enthusiasm. "Ebony." She stated. "Are you gonna eat that?" Nikki looked down at her tray. The purple headed camper laughed. "You can have it." The pink eyes widened as she stuffed the food in her mouth.

After finishing the nuggets, she started again. "Wanna go on adventure with me after lunch? Max and Neil never really want to." Ebony was about to respond when Max stopped talking to his brunette friend and looked at the new kid. "The fuck!?" He spat. "Nikki did you invite her to our table?" Nikki crossed her arms. "That's no way to talk to my new friend." A slight blush came across Ebony's face. She didn't expect to make a friend this early. This was going better than expected.

Nikki turned back to the girl. Waiting for a response. "Umm, yeah. That sounds like fun!" She smiled, a bit nervous. Max narrowed his eyes. Nikki, glossing over her cynical friend, looked at the brown haired boy. "Neil, you joining us?" She asked. "What the hell, I don't have anything else to do, sound good to me!" Neil said. Nikki jumped out of her seat. "This is gonna be awesome!"


	3. Chapter 3 - Observations

Ebony, Neil and Nikki were ready to go adventuring, but were stopped short by Max. "Hey guys." He started off awkwardly. "I was wondering if I could come with you." "Oh, so now you wanna hang with Ebony. I thought you didn't like her." Nikki replied. "I never said that, but you could say I was being a little mean. And I'm sorry for that." He had a dubious edge to his voice. Ebony knew he wasn't really sorry, but before she could interject Nikki answered. "Hmm... okay! Time to go." The obvious lie just flew over her head. Max's green eyes gazed with suspicion into Ebony's brown ones. She quickly looked away, following Nikki into the forest.

Max knew there was something strange going on with the new camper, but he wasn't gonna find out anything by doing nothing. After his little chat with Nikki, he made sure to keep a watchful eye on Ebony.

"Are you sure you know where we're going?" Neil looked at Nikki anxiously. "Of course not, that's what makes it fun!" Max sighed. "For fuck's sake! You got us lost, again!" Nikki hesitated. "I mean, we can find our way back." Ebony stopped dead in her tracks. "Did you guys hear that?" "Hear wha-" Neil started. There it was again. A small rustling noise coming from the bushes behind them. "Oh shit. It must be the squirrels. Nikki, what do we do?" The brunette panicked.

"I'm sure it's nothing." The teal haired girl assured her friends. Just then a blue triangle popped out of the bush. "Shark!" Nikki shouted. Max walked by her, muttering. "Dumbass." He gestured his hand at the shape. "C'mon guys, it's just Nerris. Doing the weird shit she does on a daily basis." Less than a second later you could see a nerdy looking girl with short hair come into sight. "Well Max, if you actually talked to me then you would know I'm not doing weird shit." She spat everywhere. "I'm just collecting berries for my potion."

Max was disinterested. "Whatever. Let's just keep going." He turned around before Nerris saw Ebony. "Hey new girl. What was it, Melanie?" She smiled. "It's actually Ebony" The geek continued. "Yeah yeah. Anyways, do you wanna help me make my potion?" The violet headed camper looked at Nikki then back at Nerris. "I'm kinda busy right now but maybe later." She said politely. "Oh, okay."

The group continued, Ebony stayed in the back. Max noticed that she was talking to herself. Sort of, reciting something. The others seemed to busy to hear. The raven haired boy walked a little bit slower, allowing Ebony to catch up. She seemed uncomfortable and stopped talking. "So, where you from?" Max figured that insulting the girl would not be the best way to find what was up with her. He decided to attempt small talk.

"Uh, Montana." She paused. "Billings." Max was surprised. "So why are you at this shitty camp? Montana is pretty far away." "My friends recommended it to me. They obviously just wanted to get rid of me. Jennie was all like, "Ebony, you have to come to Camp Campbell. Kim and Olivia will be there." They kinda think I'm weird." Ebony ranted. She hoped it would be convincing enough.

That didn't make much sense. For one, not many people knew about this camp. After all, it's in the middle of nowhere. And the friend thing seemed fake. By the way Ebony was acting, she seemed normal. Not to Max though. He could tell it she was putting on a facade. He was determined to break the illusion. He did it with David after all. How hard could it be?

Max was done with this conversation. "Huh, well sorry about your friends. They sound like assholes." He laughed. Ebony gave a doubtful smile. "Yeah." "Well anyways, I think we better catch up with Nikki and Neil." Ebony just realized how far behind they were. "Yes, let's do that." Max looked at her one more time before the two followed the distant voices of campers.

Worry set it with every minute that passed. Max was extremely suspicious. She had to make her move. Until then Ebony would have to gain trust, because failure was not an option at this point.


End file.
